Nationwide Vaccine Injury Lawyer Leah Durant

About The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)

On October 1, 1988, The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was created by Congress as a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was established to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs, and to establish and maintain an accessible and efficient forum for individuals found to be injured by certain vaccines. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program provides compensation to people found to be injured by vaccines. The law requires that claims for vaccine injuries be processed in the Vaccine Program prior to the filing of any civil lawsuit.

What is the Cost of Hiring a Vaccine Attorney?

Legal representation of your vaccine injury case comes at no financial cost to you. Our legal fees never come out of any money awarded to you. Instead, all attorney's fees are paid separately by the United States Court of Federal Claims and are taken out of the Vaccine Injury Fund. Whether you win or lose, once we agree that there is a reasonable basis to file your case our vaccine attorney’s services come at no risk and no charge to you – ever. The only requirement is that the case be filed “in good faith and with a reasonable basis.” Once our vaccine lawayer has reviewed your case and determined that it meets these standards of good faith and reasonable basis your vaccine case will be filed with the Court and you are not responsible for any legal fees.

Many individuals who suffer an adverse reaction to a vaccine are unable to pay the legal costs of filing and maintaining a lawsuit. The vaccine lawyer at the Law Offices of Leah V. Durant, PLLC, will pay the costs of litigating your case including expert witness fees, costs associated with obtaining medical records, and most other costs associated with litigating a vaccine injury claim. At the conclusion of your case our vaccine lawyer will seek repayment of those costs from the vaccine court, also known as the Court of Federal Claims.

How Do I File a Vaccine Injury Claim?

Instead of filing a vaccine injury claim against vaccine manufacturers or your doctor, a person injured by a vaccine must file his or her case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (located in Washington, DC). Each case is defended by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the defendant or respondent), who is represented by highly specialized vaccine attorneys whose sole job is to handle vaccine related claims at the United States Department of Justice.

All cases brought under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program are presided over by the Office of Special Masters. A special master (or judge) is assigned to every vaccine injury claim and decides the outcome in the event that the vaccine claim proceeds to a hearing (or trial). Vaccine cases that do not proceed to a hearing (or trial) are either settled by the parties in advance of hearing or conceded by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

To prove causation, the Vaccine Act provides a burden-shifting device known as the Vaccine Injury Table. Individuals who have suffered vaccine injuries according to criteria listed in the Vaccine Injury Table make out a legal case for compensation that the Secretary of Health and Human Services may rebut by proving that the proposed vaccine injury was caused by “factors unrelated” to the vaccine. 42 U.S.C.§§ 300aa-11(c)(1)(C)(i), 300aa-13(a)(1)(B).

If an individual who has filed a vaccine injury claim does not meet the criteria outlined in the Vaccine Table, he or she may still receive compensation by proving that the proposed vaccine injury was actually caused by a covered vaccination. 42 U.S.C. §300aa-11(c)(1)(C)(ii). Under current case law, to establish a legal case for actual causation of a vaccine injury, an individual filing a claim must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the vaccine brought about the injury by providing: (1) a medical theory causally connecting the vaccine and the injury; (2) a logical sequence of cause and effect showing that the vaccine was the reason for the injury; and (3) a showing of a proximate temporal relationship between vaccine and injury. Compensation awarded under the Vaccine Act is paid from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, financed by an excise tax on vaccines.

Vaccines Covered Under Vaccine Injury Compensation Program:

Tetanus Toxoid, alone, or in combination with other vaccines (for example, TT, Td)